I have just returned from a week in Europe, Berlin and Prague to be precise. And while there are many wonderful things that I observed, one thing I noticed is how much less Europeans seem to be staring at their phone screen. I also was staring at my phone screen so much less (perhaps because it was mostly in airplane mode). When I saw people in cafes, they were reading newspapers or magazines, lost in thought, or conversing with someone across the table. On public transportation people were gazing out the window watching the city go by. Phones were tucked away at restaurants, instead of being the requisite additional utensil adjacent to the fork.

Having some time away where I know I was looking at my own screen less I’ve decided to try this at home, also. As an experiment, I’ve deleted Facebook from my phone. Looking at my phone battery usage, I see that most of the time I am on my phone I am on Facebook and it is time to make a change. I can assure you that I am not abandoning social media entirely. I will still check Facebook on a computer or my iPad and I have a plethora of other social media accounts. The question will be do I turn to those other platforms without Facebook or do I just look at my phone less often? I’m hoping for the later.